Umbruke
"The Umbruke Collective is a political entity located in a vast region of space. Their technology is extraordinarily advanced and quite impressive, but their ways go against the Revolutionary values of the Union and the Commonwealth at large. They are a grave threat. The most logical course of action would be to seek allies against them." - Members of the Commonwealth The Umbruke are an immense expansionist and militaristic cyborg species, composed of thousands of enslaved and allied species. The Umbruke manipulate other alien species in a number of ways, including bioengineering and cybernetic augmentation, producing cyborg derivatives of enslaved alien races. Biological Description Umbruke, the dominant race in the empire, are large four legged creatures with two additional prehensile arms, and have unique fungoid biology. Standing at around thirteen feet tall, or four meters, these sentients have tendrils alongside side their flat "heads", lined with nerves that read air fluctuations when they vibrate. The Umbruke don't need to have a body plan that could use tools, seeing that they're bioengineers and editing themselves to be unrecognisable from how they originally evolved. They have several orifices along their upper section, gills that absorb oxygen and exhale it through an artificial breathing mechanism. They are much more psychologically developed, using technologically produced radio waves to communicate with each other. The Umbrukes intelligence is never underestimated, as intellect is one of their greatest weapons. The calm, spoken personality they use for diplomacy is a facade for a much more sinister undertone. Personality The general Umbruke emotion is amorality and apathy. But, they can show a liking for certain things, but can get agitated if provoked. Dumping whole concepts into other Umbruke's minds is considered a rude action. As they're easily automated, dull repetitive tasks are considered pretty good jobs by a lot of the sluggish parts of Umbruke society. Work as punishment is more complex work that changes a lot. It takes a rather unique mind to choose to go into the Temple of Research voluntarily, and doubly so to want more of a challenge. If one of them needs a certain object, they could communicate the words 'want object', the sensible way, or upload their entire definition of the desired object directly to another's mind complete with the experience of needing something for thousands of known species, the mildly annoying and inconsiderate way. Jokes and laughter is also common within the Umbruke society, but is rather unusual. Their form of laughter is vocalised through harmonic clicking with a deep monotone clicking. "Sigma explains to the temple supervisor, in great detail, a journey into the cave in search of a great scientific discovery, the story builds to a find world shatteringly important." "Sigma explains that the incredible thing that was found..." "was 'nothing.'" "Sigma sends a recording of the supervisor's reaction of mild annoyance to all of it's associates." This would soon be followed by rapid clicking from other Umbruke in the vicinity, the equivalent of laughter. Reproduction Umbruke have reproductive organs needed to gestate young. They have tunnel shaped orifices resembling exhaust pipes, the seeds forming and then being laid. The collection of decaying matter will induce rapid growth and allow the sprouts to develop physical brains and other vital organs through symbiosis. The seed sprout will begin to develop muscular tissue and will be allowed to consciously prioritise the nutrients they're obtaining, then become independent of soil and be able to move freely on its own. Though needed nutrients must be supplied as long as they are obtained, the host will continue to live and grow. At this point, the sprout is around nine years old, as the growth period takes many years to fully develop the infant. When they reach the age of eighteen, the sprout becomes a broodling, where it is extracted from the seed. Technology Umbruke technology is extraordinarily advanced, capable of transmuting elements to make alloys that are nigh indestrucible. The Umbruke can use the technological growth of other civilisations against them. Weapons, vehicles and other technology are assimilated into the Umbruke armory, modified with Umbruke military technology. They are capable of reaching near light speed, relativistic velocities allowing them to reach distant stars in a relatively short time frame. They've mastered energy density technology, carbon based computer programs, and the technology to create digital copies of an Umbruke mind, using them as pilots for warships. Their ships can cloak themselves by absorbing light by making it less noticable by having all of their cooling equipment on one side of the ship and a shielded section on the other side, even though it will warm up above the background radiation. It could also be detected easily if there's sensory equipment in different places. Architecture Probably the most engaging technological achievement, their structures and buildings are artificially grown like plants. Cables grow and attach themselves to the surrounding environment, also working as large mechanised walls. These walls slowly expand outward and destroy existing structures in the way. Architecture does not take a symetric form, mostly irregular shapes and cubic edges that form large, monolithic towers. Any form of aesthetic or embellishment is engraved into the walls of the building, commonly in forms of writing or symbolic imagery. Cybernetics The Umbruke are cybernetic, but still individual in thought. Wires, tubing, digital receptors, and mechanical eyepieces make up the separate faction of the Umbrukes biology. The small eyepieces on the sides of their heads are actually small cameras connected to their cerebrums. They also have remote control equipment buried into their brains, restricting them from certain chemical emotions. Additionally, these enhancements can 'evolve' over time, akin to biological development. Instead, the mechanical and organic parts can re-replicate in order to adapt to a new environment, a weapon, or even a personality given the situation. The implants may serve as an important religious, as well as functional, purpose. The implants not only improve their abilities, but also distance themselves from others. But what contradicts this is the Umbruke's lack of religious enthusiasm, which could likely classify them as athiests. Teleportation Teleportation is something the Umbruke value most, granting them entry to any known area in the galaxy. They use string based teleportation, string theory being a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. These strings can propagate and interact with each other, able to be controlled to form a safe portal gate to travel through. But the Umbrukes less sophisticated grasp on teleportation causes problems, because they require large amounts of energy and machinery to function. They also take a very long time to recharge, and the rifts have to be forced open in order to pass through safely. Government Main Article: Umbruke Collective Organisations Main Article: Temple of Research Main Article: Oversight Culture Umbruke culture revolves around religious practice, science, and sports. Such sports include playing games with each other and winding up with overly long and verbose sentence structures, its an art form to them. Rogues Rarely, individual Umbruke may break away from the hive mind, forming a separate faction. These are called Rouges, Umbruke who do reject the political structure and philosophy. These defects, or deviants, are hunted down to be brought back and refactored. Umbruke digital refactoring is the process of restructuring existing computer code without changing external behavior. It is intended to improve nonfunctional attributes of the corrupted software.